After a first half in which the Giants got out-muscled and out-hustled by Jackson ville, physically beaten up in their own building, it was in many ways their secondary — especially cornerback Terrell Thomas — that both started and finished their second-half come back, a 24-20 season-saving win.

Trailing 17-6 at halftime, after being trampled for 145 yards on the ground alone, Thomas intercepted David Garrard’s first pass of the second half. That sparked an 18-3 rally in the second half, capped when Thomas sacked Garrard and forced a game-sealing fumble that Antrel Rolle recovered with 1:25 left.

“We don’t want to let anyone come in our house, eat up our food, take our wives and leave. We’re dogs, and we went out there hunting,” said Rolle.

On the first play of the second half, Garrard’s pass went right through Mike Sims-Walker’s fingers, with Thomas there waiting to make the interception.

“I was glad to make a play for our defense. It was big, obviously. It was a great momentum-changer, and that got the team going,” said Thomas, who had a potential pick on the next drive knocked out of his hands by receiver Mike Thomas.

Still, it swayed the momentum from the Jaguars to the Giants, who kicked a field goal after Thomas’ pick to close within 17-9. Eli Manning threw fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the Giants ahead 24-20, and then they made a defensive stand to seal it.

“This is what November football is all about,” said Thomas. “We knew how much the game meant to us. We knew if we lost we might be out of the playoffs.”

The Jaguars drove for a first down on the Giant 29 with just 1:51 left, but that’s when Big Blue — who’d gotten to mobile David Garrard only once to that point — unleashed corner blitzes and safety blitzes to get three straight sacks and even injure his left hand.

“It feels like I hurt everything,” said Garrard.

“It matters. We wanted to get them in third-and-long, and once we finally got them there, we got them in our gameplan,” said Thomas, who sacked Garrard on third-and-25 from the 44, forcing a fumble that Rolle scooped up.

“We came after him and got him rattled a bit, started putting more pressure on him, started hitting him more. Guys were making good plays,” said Rolle. “When I come free [on the blitz] I try to wreak havoc wherever I am.”